TiVo Corporation explained

TiVo Corporation should not be confused with Microvision.

TiVo Corporation
Type:Public
Traded As:NASDAQ:
Fate:Merged with Xperi
Successor:Xperi
Predecessor:TiVo Inc.
Hq Location City:San Jose, California
Hq Location Country:U.S.
Net Income:US$[1]
Net Income Year:December 31, 2017
Assets: US$3,163,678,000
Assets Year:2017-12-31
Num Employees:1,700+
Num Employees Year:2017

TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. Now operating as Xperi, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property within the consumer electronics industry, including digital rights management, electronic program guide software, and metadata. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents. The company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry.

In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc., and renamed itself TiVo Corporation. On May 30, 2019, TiVo announced the appointment of Dave Shull as the company's new president and CEO.

On December 19, 2019, TiVo merged with Xperi;[2] the combined firm operates as Xperi.[3]

History

Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983 by Victor Farrow and John O. Ryan. The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985.[4] The technology was subsequently extended to DVD players and other consumer electronic recording and playback devices such as digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and portable media players. By the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services.[5]

In the 1990s, Macrovision acquired companies with expertise in managing access control and secure distribution of other forms of digital media, including music, video games, internet content, and computer software.

Ryan (founder and CEO of Macrovision from June 1995 to October 2001) and William A. Krepick (president of Macrovision Corporation from July 1995 to July 2005 and CEO from October 2001 to July 2005)[6] led the company through an IPO in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. Under their leadership, the company went from a private company with sales of under $20 million to a global, publicly traded corporation with annual sales of $220 million and market cap exceeding $1 billion.[7]

In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief executive officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick, who announced his retirement earlier in the year.[8]

Macrovision acquired Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2, 2008, in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience,” said Mr. Amoroso.[9]

After the announcement of its intent to buy Gemstar-TV Guide, Macrovision made other changes in order to focus on entertainment technology, including selling its software business unit, valued at approximately $200 million, to private equity firm Thoma Cressey Bravo. The divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1, 2008, becoming Acresso Software. Macrovision also ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on digital entertainment, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network and the TV Games Network.

The company also bought two companies providing entertainment metadata: All Media Guide on November 6, 2007, and substantially all the assets of Muze, Inc. on April 15, 2009.

As Rovi

On July 16, 2009, Macrovision Solutions Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation.

Rovi announced its first product on January 7, 2010 – TotalGuide, an interactive media guide that incorporated entertainment data, to search, browse and provide recommendations.[10] On March 16, 2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for clients such as Napster, eMusic and MTV Networks.[11] On June 16, 2010, the company announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising and third-party interactive TV platforms.[12]

On December 23, 2010, the company announced its intention to acquire Sonic Solutions and its DivX video software in a deal valued at $720 million. Sonic provided digital video processing, playback and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow (formerly CinemaNow) an OTT technology provider.[13] [14]

On March 1, 2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide SideReel.[15]

The company announced Amoroso's intention to retire on May 26, 2011.[16] Tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011.[17] Under Carson the company shifted its focus on "growth opportunities related to its core enabling technology and services" and it announced that it intended to sell the Rovi Entertainment Store business.[18] It entered into separate agreements to sell the Rovi Entertainment Store to Reliance Majestic Holdings, a private equity-backed company; and its consumer websites to All Media Networks, a new company, in July 2013.[19] Continuing on this path, the company made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX and MainConcept businesses.

On April 1, 2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services. The technology would be integrated into Rovi's audience analysis services.[20]

In April 2013, Facebook began licensing Rovi metadata for use within the service.[21]

As TiVo Corporation

On April 29, 2016, Rovi Corporation announced that it had acquired TiVo Inc. for $1.1 billion. The combined company operated under the TiVo brand, and held over 6,000 pending and registered patents.[22] [23] Rovi plans to discontinue in-house hardware production, and focus primarily on licensing its technologies and the TiVo brand to third-party companies.[24]

In December 2019, TiVo Corporation announced their intent to merge with Xperi. The surviving entity will operate under the Xperi name and have a combined value of $3 billion. TiVo had previously considered splitting out its hardware operations from its licensing operations.[25] The merger was completed on June 1, 2020.[26]

In August 2022, TiVo announced the TiVo OS for smart TVs[27] launching in 2023 in Europe[28] with Vestel.

Products

Guides

Rovi provides guides for service providers and CE manufacturers.

Data

Rovi provides entertainment metadata for consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, retailers, online portals and application developers around the world. The company has over 50 years of metadata for video, music, books, and games covering more than 5 million movies and TV programs, 3.2 million album releases and 30 million song tracks, 9 million in-print and out-of-print book titles, and 70,000 video games. The metadata includes basic facts, local TV listings and channel line-ups for interactive program guides, original editorial, imagery, and other features.[29]

Search and Recommendations

Rovi Search Service allows consumer electronics manufacturers, service providers, and developers to provide solutions that enable consumers to search for and access desired content. Rovi Recommendations Service is a cloud-based service that offers consumers entertainment choices similar to their chosen program, movie, album, track, musician or band.

Advertising

Rovi Advertising Service enables the monetization of entertainment platforms. It places ads that appear as content choices in application menus and user interfaces for set-top boxes, connected TVs, smartphones, tablets, Blu-ray players, game consoles and other devices.

Rovi Audience Management

Rovi Audience Management is a suite of products (Advertising Optimizer and Promotion Optimizer) combining big data with predictive analytics to provide TV audience insights and advertising campaign management. Ad Optimizer allows provides campaign management and media planning capabilities to TV networks and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Promo Optimizer uses past viewing data to enable cable and broadcast networks to create plans for on-air promos.[30]

Legacy products

The company historically developed technologies and products that helped protect content from being pirated. Its two core legacy products were called RipGuard and the Analog Protection System (APS).

RipGuard

Macrovision introduced its RipGuard technology in February 2005. It was designed to prevent or reduce digital DVD copying by altering the format of the DVD content to disrupt the ripping software. Although the technology could be circumvented by several current DVD rippers such as AnyDVD or DVDFab, Macrovision claimed that 95% of casual users lack the knowledge and/or determination to be able to copy a DVD with RipGuard technology.[31]

Analog Protection System

See main article: Analog Protection System. The Analog Protection System (APS), also known as Analog Copy Protection (ACP), Copyguard or Macrovision, was the Macrovision Corporation's flagship product, a copy protection system for both VHS and DVD. Video tapes copied from DVDs encoded with APS become garbled and unwatchable. The process works by adding pulses to analog video signals to negatively impact the AGC circuit of a recording device. In digital devices, changes to the analog video signal are created by a chip that converts the digital video to analog within the device. In DVD players, trigger bits are created during DVD authoring to inform the APS that it should be applied to DVD players' analog outputs or analog video outputs on a PC while playing back a protected DVD-Video disc. In set top boxes trigger bits are incorporated into Conditional Access Entitlement Control Messages (ECM) in the stream delivered to the STB. In VHS, alterations to the analog video signal are added in a Macrovision-provided "processor box" used by duplicators.

As Macrovision

As Rovi

See also

Additional sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: XNAS:ROVI Rovi Corp Annual Report 8-K Filling. www.snl.com. December 31, 2017. May 25, 2018. May 25, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180525205700/http://www.snl.com/Cache/c392363864.html. live.
  2. Web site: TiVo to merge with Xperi to create "one of the largest licensing companies in the world". Gartenberg. Chaim. 2019-12-19. The Verge. en. 2019-12-27. 2019-12-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20191225045851/https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/19/21029945/tivo-xperi-merger-dvr-rovi-deal-patent-licensing. live.
  3. Dec. 2019/completed June 2020 Web site: TiVo to Merge With Entertainment-Tech Firm Xperi in $3 Billion Deal. Todd Spangler . December 19, 2019.
  4. News: VCRs put entertainment industry into fast-forward frenzy . The Free Lance-Star . 1985-09-07 . Associated Press . 25 January 2015 . De Atley, Richard . 12–TV . 2020-04-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200404235716/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lc8vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1Y0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5630%2C870934 . live .
  5. Web site: Hollywood's Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet . Decherney, Peter . Columbia University Press . 2012 . 180.
  6. Web site: John Ryan: Executive Profile & Biography. https://archive.today/20140305171914/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=217505&privcapId=26743. dead. March 5, 2014. Businessweek. 2016-04-29.
  7. Web site: William A. Krepick: Executive Profile & Biography – Businessweek. Bloomberg. 2016-04-29.
  8. Macrovision Appoints Alfred J. Amoroso as President and Chief Executive Officer; William A. Krepick Appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board Business Wire. Businesswire.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-05-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20160513110900/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20050705005142/en/Macrovision-Appoints-Alfred-J.-Amoroso-President-Chief#.Uw2Ty_ldWSo. live.
  9. News: Macrovision Agrees to Buy Gemstar-TV Guide for $2.8 Billion in Stock and Cash. Stelter. Brian. 2007-12-08. The New York Times. 0362-4331. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20160327075142/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/business/media/08gemstar.html. live.
  10. Web site: Rovi Showcases Early Version of Media Guide and Solutions Portfolio for Digital Home Entertainment Products during CES 2010. Rovicorp.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20160307152422/http://www.rovicorp.com/company/press-releases/archive/2010/1/7/rovi-showcases-early-versionmedia-guide-and-solutions-portfolio-.html. live.
  11. Web site: Rovi Acquires Media Recommendation Firm MediaUnbound. Lawler. Ryan. 2010-03-16. gigaom.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305163739/https://gigaom.com/2010/03/16/rovi-acquires-media-recommendation-firm-mediaunbound/. live.
  12. Web site: Rovi Launches Advertising Network with Broad Reach into Multiple Platforms. Rovicorp.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032306/http://www.rovicorp.com/company/press-releases/archive/2010/6/16/rovi-launches-advertising-network-with-broad-reach-into-multiple.html. live.
  13. Web site: Rovi announces agreement to acquire Sonic Solutions for $720 million. Engadget. 2016-04-29. 2016-05-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20160506081350/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/23/rovi-announces-agreement-to-acquire-sonic-solutions-for-720-mil/. live.
  14. Web site: Rovi to buy Sonic for $720 million. CNET. 2016-04-29. 2014-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20140305193416/http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20026481-17.html. live.
  15. Web site: Rovi Buys Sidereel, Expands to the Web. Roettgers. Janko. 2011-03-01. gigaom.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20160306181339/https://gigaom.com/2011/03/01/rovi-sidereel/. live.
  16. Web site: Rovi Corp. (ROVI) CEO Amoroso to Retire. StreetInsider.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235656/http://www.streetinsider.com/Management+Changes/Rovi+Corp.+(ROVI)+CEO+Amoroso+to+Retire/6539943.html. live.
  17. Web site: Rovi Promotes Thomas Carson to CEO InteractiveTV Today. itvt.com. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305221717/http://itvt.com/story/8651/rovi-promotes-thomas-carson-ceo. live.
  18. Rovi Announces Intent to Pursue Sale of Rovi Entertainment Store Business and Narrows Estimates Range for Fiscal 2012. GlobeNewswire News Room. January 3, 2013 . en-US. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305201431/https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/01/03/514574/10017001/en/Rovi-Announces-Intent-to-Pursue-Sale-of-Rovi-Entertainment-Store-Business-and-Narrows-Estimates-Range-for-Fiscal-2012.html. live.
  19. Web site: Rovi Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2013 Financial Performance. MarketWatch. 2016-04-29. 2016-03-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060522/http://www.marketwatch.com/story/rovi-corporation-reports-second-quarter-2013-financial-performance-2013-07-31. live.
  20. Web site: 5 Notable Rovi Acquisitions Before TiVo. Broadcasting and Cable. April 29, 2016 . 9 November 2016. 9 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161109224223/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/5-notable-rovi-acquisitions-tivo/156092. live.
  21. Web site: Facebook Partners With Rovi To Bring In-Depth Video Content To Users. Yeung. Ken. 2013-04-16. The Next Web. en-US. 2016-04-29. 2016-05-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20160529083541/http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/04/16/facebook-partners-with-rovi-to-bring-more-in-depth-movie-and-tv-content-info-to-user-profiles/. live.
  22. Web site: From TV trailblazer to IP afterthought: TiVo bought for $1.1 billion. Ars Technica. April 29, 2016 . Conde Nast Digital. 29 April 2016. 30 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160430110903/http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/04/rovi-buys-tivo-and-a-ton-of-ip-for-1-1-billion/. live.
  23. News: Rovi Buys TiVo in $1.1 Billion Deal. The New York Times . April 29, 2016 . 29 April 2016. 2 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160502020829/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/business/dealbook/rovi-buys-tivo-in-1-1-billion-deal.html?_r=0. live . Picker . Leslie .
  24. Web site: TiVo's new owner isn't that interested in making set-top boxes. Brodkin. Jon. Ars Technica. June 6, 2016 . 6 June 2016. 7 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160607085430/http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/06/after-rovi-buys-tivo-company-might-stop-making-its-own-hardware/. live.
  25. Web site: TiVo to Merge With Entertainment-Tech Firm Xperi in $3 Billion Deal. Spangler. Todd. 2019-12-19. Variety. en. 2019-12-19. 2019-12-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20191219133624/https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/tivo-to-merge-with-entertainment-tech-firm-xperi-in-3-billion-deal-1203448604/. live.
  26. News: Xperi and TiVo Complete Merger . 19 July 2020 . www.businesswire.com . 1 June 2020 . en . 19 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200719082429/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200601005246/en/Xperi-TiVo-Complete-Merger . live .
  27. Web site: Fletcher . Bevin . August 31, 2022 . Xperi reveals Europe's Vestel as first TiVo smart TV OS customer . May 22, 2023 . Fierce Video.
  28. Web site: Newman . Jared . January 31, 2023 . You might actually want a TiVo TV someday . May 22, 2023 . TechHive.
  29. Web site: Rovi's Veveo Deal Is Something to Talk About. Frazier. David N.. 2014-02-27. Newsmax. 2016-04-29. 2014-03-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20140309001454/http://www.moneynews.com/Companies/David-N-Frazier-Rovi-Veveo-Stock/2014/02/27/id/555209. live.
  30. Web site: Rovi To Acquire TiVo. Strategic Fit Or A Synergy Play?. Fields. Anna. Forbes. en. 2019-10-09. 2019-10-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20191009161500/https://www.forbes.com/sites/annafields/2016/03/25/rovi-to-acquire-tivo-strategic-fit-or-a-synergy-play/. live.
  31. Web site: RipGuard DVD – DVD Copy Protection and DVD Encryption Software Protection – Rovi . Rovicorp.com . 2010-05-24 . 2010-05-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100529113554/http://www.rovicorp.com/products/content_producers/protect/ripguard.htm . live .
  32. News: Macrovision Completes Acquisition of GLOBEtrotter Software. Business Wire. 1 Sep 2000. 13 January 2012. 25 July 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130725002709/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Macrovision+Completes+Acquisition+of+GLOBEtrotter+Software%2c+Leading...-a064991885. live.
  33. News: Macrovision moves to acquire Midbar group. MusicWeek. November 11, 2002. January 13, 2012. March 24, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210324070731/https://www.musicweek.com/news/read/macrovision-moves-to-acquire-midbar-group/024753. live.
  34. Web site: DVD Decrypter to be removed . AfterDawn . 2005-11-24 . 2010-05-24 . 2009-03-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090309214323/http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/7056.cfm . live .
  35. Web site: Rovi-Acquires-Mediabolic-For-$43,500,000 . VentureDeal . 2007-01-03 . 2012-01-14 . 2011-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111127114215/http://www.venturedeal.com/VentureCapital/a0e138b1-db0a-4208-be4c-0fb2a4faf47d/Rovi-Acquires-Mediabolic-For-$43,500,000/Default.aspx . live .
  36. Web site: Press Releases – Next Generation Media Guide – Rovi . https://web.archive.org/web/20111008033345/http://www.rovicorp.com/company/newscenter/pressreleases/1434_7844.htm . dead . 2011-10-08 . Rovicorp.com . 2012-01-14 .
  37. Web site: Macrovision Agrees to Acquire Gemstar-TV Guide. :: Rovi . Bloobble.com . 2012-01-14 . 2011-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111127131848/http://www.bloobble.com/broadband-presentations/presentations?itemid=1055 . live .
  38. Web site: Kaplan . David . Macrovision Buys Metadata Provider Muze For $16.5 Million . paidContent . 2009-04-15 . 2012-01-14 . 2011-12-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111214185015/http://paidcontent.org/article/419-macrovision-buys-muze/ . live .
  39. Web site: Ali . Rafat . Rovi Acquires Recommendations Service MediaUnbound . paidContent . 2010-03-16 . 2012-01-14 . 2011-12-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111230080901/http://paidcontent.org/article/419-rovi-acquires-recommendations-service-mediaunbound/ . live .
  40. Web site: Rovi announces agreement to acquire Sonic Solutions for $720 million . Engadget . 2012-01-14 . 2012-02-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120204060932/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/23/rovi-announces-agreement-to-acquire-sonic-solutions-for-720-mil . live .
  41. Web site: Rovi Acquires SideReel.com – Launches AllRovi.com: An Immersive and Interactive Film and Music Site for Entertainment Fans . https://web.archive.org/web/20110305035154/http://www.appmarket.tv/news/1074-rovi-acquires-sidereelcom-launches-allrovicom-an-immersive-and-interactive-film-and-music-site-for-entertainment-fans.html . dead . 2011-03-05 . Appmarket.tv . 2011-03-01 . 2012-01-14 .
  42. Web site: Jim Barthold . Rovi acquires DigiForge, reportedly to improve cable visibility . FierceCable . 2011-05-06 . 2012-01-14 . 2011-11-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111127115608/http://www.fiercecable.com/story/rovi-acquires-digiforge-reportedly-improve-cable-visibility/2011-05-06 . live .
  43. Web site: Corel completes acquisition of Roxio from Rovi Corporation . Private Equity Wire . Global Fund Media Ltd . 3 December 2019 . 3 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191203092031/https://www.privateequitywire.co.uk/2012/02/09/161834/corel-completes-acquisition-roxio-rovi-corporation . live .
  44. Web site: 2013-06-03 . Rovi Debuts Entertainment Analytics, Big Data for Multiscreen . 2023-11-28 . Streaming Media Magazine . en-US.
  45. Web site: Video Discovery Specialist Rovi Acquires Voice Search Startup Veveo For Up To $69 Million. 2021-03-05. TechCrunch. en-US. 2021-03-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20210324070742/https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/24/video-discovery-specialist-rovi-acquires-voice-search-startup-veveo-for-up-to-69-million/. live.
  46. Web site: Schonfeld . Erick . 2010-12-16 . Fanhattan Promises Better Internet TV Through The Power Of Data (TCTV) . 2024-01-04 . TechCrunch . en-US.
  47. Web site: Rovi Acquires Content Discovery and Navigation Innovator Fanhattan. rovi.com. 2014-11-03. 2014-11-03. 2014-11-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20141106174914/http://www.rovicorp.com/company/press-releases/2014/11/3/rovi-acquires-content-discovery-and-navigation-innovator-fanhatt.html. live.
  48. Web site: Rovi acquires DVR company TiVo. Snider. Mike. 2016-04-29. USA TODAY. 2016-04-29. 2016-04-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20160430235939/http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/04/29/rovi-acquires-dvr-company-tivo/83692332/. live.

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